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Old Shax
General Information This is the long lost North African romance language. It manifested in the Maghreb: specifically in modern-day Morocco, the Roman Empire's Mauritania. The East Roman Empire's side of North Africa was influenced by Greek and gave birth to coptic and other such languages. Though, influence from Western Romance languages, namely Iberian, have made it closer to those such languages. It's sister language, Vandalic, followed a much different path. Mauritania was enamored by the Vandals and have borrowed from it*. ("wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" <- for collapsible tables) (*) With permission of course ;) (†) In Verbial Phrases in Syntax Phonology Consonant Vowel All vowels can be nasal Other Standard Shax/Sound Change Stress Stress falls on primarily on the closed syllable (except if it's ultimate) or a pre-rhotic syllable; if there isn't one of those conditions, the stress falls on the penultimate. Note that stress on the ultimate syllable is on an open syllable followed by a closed syllable in a two syllable word. On two, open syllable words, the stress falls on the ultimate syllable if the ultimate syllable is of a nasal vowel, diphthong, or nasal diphthong. Nasal vowels carry more strength than non-nasal vowels so if any above condition is not ture, the stress will fall on the nasal vowel. Sandhi The vowels u and i may be freely exchanged for w and j respectivally before vowel regardless of word barriors (u amu ''w.amu - I like/love). Identical vowels between word boundries may also fuse into one sound (''u sũ ũ fezuã ''sũ fezwã - I am a person). Note that vowel nasality is also quite free. If there is a nasal vowel near any vowel, the adjecent vowels may become allophoniclly nasal as well. Orthography Alphabet *I/Y and U are j and w respectivally before another vowel *Ɵ and D are ð intervocalically *K is ɣ intervocallically Multigraphs *Kk, Dd, and Θθ negate the intervocalic rule *Ei becomes ɛ_ after or next to R or in a closed syllable *If one vowel is nasal in a set, all the vowels are nasal: (amãi [ Diacritics Grammar Nouns Declension 1st Declension selua sɛlwa - forest Contains only feminine nouns ending in a. 2nd Declension lovu lovu - wolf Contains only nouns ending in u. 3rd Declension faθ faθ - father Contains only masculine nouns. This is also the declension for gerunds. 4th Declension re re̞ - the truth of the situation/events, a witnesse's claim a court of law, reality opposed to a fantasy (can be used to call someone crazy or deluded) Contains only feminine nouns. Changing gender Masculine nouns can change to feminine nouns by using the 4th declension and feminine nouns can use the 3rd declension. Articles Types Definite The definite article is taken from the latin word ''hīc, for proximal, and ille, for medial-distal. Indefinite The indefinite is taken from the latin word ūnus, for proximal, and is, for medial-distal. Zero The zero article in Shax corresponds to the partative article. Semantics The indifinite article refers to any given noun. ũ lovu ''can refer to any single male wolf or any single wolf in general within one's sight. The plural indifinite article refers to any given group. The definite refers to a single important or noteworthy noun. ''i lovu ''can refers to the best or most important wolf or a special wolf. The plural refers, again, to a group. Note that articles may also fuction as reletive pronouns (i.e.: ''i ''= here, this place (masculine noun), ''ũ ''= anyplaces here (masculine noun)). Adjectives Declension Adjectives decline just like what they're modifying (ex with ''biũ, good: lovu biu, nice wolf, or selua bia, friendly woods/forest). States A comparitive is marked with the construction indefinite article + "more/most" + adjective (+ than + the thing being compared). A superlative is the same but using a definite article and without rest of the previous contruction that's in the parenthesis. Transformations A verb can become an adjective through the use of its present participle. A noun can become an adjective by placing it the way an adjective would be and declining it to what it's modifying. An adjective can become a noun by the same process as a noun would become an adjective. Adverbs Adverbs simply take the full adjective and end it with ''-mẽ''. Pronouns Personal Possessive Verbs Morphology Full article here. Reflexive Put the corresponding accusative pronoun with the verb (ex: u me lu ''me lu - I wash myself). Syntax Phrases Postpositional Being a head initial language, Shax puts its postpositions (or compound prepositions) after the noun. The noun take the Nom-Acc case. Sometimes, the noun will the Gen-Dat case. Note: the noun takes the appropriate article. Nominal Nouns with adjectives A nominal phrase has the noun at the head (which is the first word) with adjective following it. Adjectives follow it in a logical order of which descibes the noun best or which is the most important quality. Therefore, a change in the adjective can also change the semantic of the noun. Though in colloquial speech, the order is irrelevant and one would simply list to their whim. Genitive Nouns The owner takes the genitive case and turns into a modifier, but it is placed before the owned noun. ''mau faθi lovu ''means "My father's wolf." Verbial Word Order A personal pronoun is necessary before every verb form in Shax. If the clause uses pronouns alone, it is SOV (ex: ''u me lu ''- I wash myself, ''u θe θuve ''- you confuse me, ''u ele dormiau ''- I'll sleep over there; but ''u sũ ũ fezuã ''- I am a person). Note that interrogative sentences function as any normal verb would in Shax. Negation The general negation marker is a ''no ''before the main verb and after the main pronoun. Though, specific types of negation may be placed in place of ''no ''(i.e.: nobody, never, nobody ever, no where). Clauses Conditional Clauses Conditional clauses where there is a requirement clause then a condition clause require the indicative then a subjunctive. But, sentences where there is only a condition (like ''I'd do that) require the verb to be able to ''in the subjunctive. Subordinate Clauses These are introduced with either ''’ã or'' ce'. '’ã is ''that ''and must be followed with a subjunctive verb. ''ce ''means ''who/whom. The introductory words are necessary and almost never omitted except in very ''informal or uneducated speech. Subordinate clauses go after independent clauses and are separated by a comma before ''’ã or ce. Copula There are two auxillary verbs used for a copula: to be ''and ''to have. When it's a construction with a noun and an adjective, he is good, one would use to have ''and the adjective as a noun. Extra Time and Place Time is written in order: year, day-month ''ĩdu ''time(hour-minute) ''a. Place goes: country, (state, province, etc) ĩdu ''(everything else in English's order with a postposition of ''a). Text Universal Decleration of Human Rights Article 1 Text All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Translation Fezuãr naxũθu lhar o gualar avu xada jinda o xar kaccus. Eler duirún avu xada logga o muaida e eler deváin θodu cerrosié ũdamẽ. IPA naˈʃũð̃u ˈʎar o gʷaˈlar ˈavu ˈʃaða ˈʒin̪ða ʊ ˈʃar ˈxakus. dwiˈrun ˈavu ˈʃaða ˈloga ʊ ˈmwaɪ̯ða j e̞ˈle̞ de̞ˈvaɪ̯n̪ ˈθo̞ðu ke̞roˈsje̞ ʊ̃ð̃ãmẽ̞. Gloss #person.1st DEC: PLUR-Nom/Acc to-be-born.IRREG: 3rd-PLUR-INDIC-ACT free.1st DEC PLUR and* equal.1st DEC-PLUR with their.OWNER-FEM-PLUR.OWNED: FEM-SING dignity.1st DEC: SING-Nom/Acc and* their.OWNER: FEM-PLUR.OWNED: MAS-PLUR rights.2nd DEC: PLUR-Nom/Acc #they to-endow.Type III Conj: 3rd-PLUR-INDIC-ACT with their.OWNER: FEM-PLUR.OWNED: FEM-SING logic.1st DEC: PLUR**-Nom/Acc and* morality.1st DEC: PLUR-Nom-ACC and* they must~need~ought.IRREG: 3rd-PLUR-INDIC-ACT all***.2nd DEC: PLUR-Nom/Acc to-be-courteous-someone/something.Type III Conj: INF unity.ADVERB (*) and ''here, ''o, refers to two things together (this and that) rather than as a linking conjunction (he is that, and he is this). ''e ''refers to the conjunction. (**) ''logic ''is always in the plural (***) This makes the "to one another" idea. ''θodu ''is always plural. Cicero's Epistles Text Translation IPA Gloss Category:Languages Category:April Romlang challenge Category:Romance conlangs Category:Latin-based Category:Standard Shax